Being ready

On Tim Boucher’s blog someone says in a comment:

The keys to spirituality could not be passed on from the individual revelation if not for what becomes known as religion.

As the writer admits, spirituality begins with an individual revelation. Can the essence of that revelation be passed on? No, it has to be experienced individually. What people try to pass on is “the keys to spirituality”, that is, a recipe for following in someone else’s footsteps, and living in hopes.

The writer seems to accept without question that those who have individual revelations are rare beings like Buddha, Jesus, the Prophet Mohammed, and that they are the ones who issue keys to spirituality via the necessary vehicle, religion.

It’s a common enough assumption but I love to see these things neatly summed up in a sentence, for then they can be shared. One might add a new assumption: “Insights could not be passed on from the individual idea if not for what becomes known as language”. I have my doubts there too. Can insights really be passed on? All we can do is pass on a seed or symbol that represents our idea. It may or may not take root in the other person.

In both spirituality and ideas, I believe that the fertile ground is far more important than the seed. Seeds get around without intervention, for Mother Nature sees to that. As I write this, I reflect that when a pond is created, aquatic plants find their way to it, as well as snails and frogs. How? I tried to look it up on the Internet and found the topic of “self-recruiting species”. Does it mean you can dig a pond and fish will find their way there?

“When the disciple is ready the master will appear.” But since there’s an excess of self-styled masters, of doubtful credentials, I’d prefer to say, “When the person is ready, the revelation will appear.”

We’re unlikely to be ready without encouragement and inspiration from outside. I had a correspondent on Death Row in Florida. I’ve read the transcripts of his case and it seems he killed a woman for a few thousand dollars, which were easily found under a sofa cushion when the police came to arrest him in his trailer. But thanks to Bo Lozoff and the Prison Ashram project, he’s made his cell into an ashram for one. To keep himself alive, he’s always instructing lawyers to appeal against his death sentence. He’s a simple uneducated man. He was a criminal and is not a saint. But he’s had his revelation and it’s changed him and sustains him. Perhaps that’s the reason he did it and why he’s there. Who knows?